Data Confirms Largest-Known Spiral Galaxy

Data Confirms Largest-Known Spiral Galaxy

An international team of astronomers says analysis of NASA data on a distant stellar system has led them to crown it the largest-known spiral galaxy. The spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872, long ranked among the biggest observed stellar systems, spans more than 522,000 light-years, making it more than five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy, they said. They made the determination by analyzing archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer mission, now operated by the California Institute of Technology in California.